Our view: As local case shows, Medicare fraud is always bigger than it seems

Medicare is the federal health-insurance program for people 65 or older and certain people with disabilities. Beneficiaries love the program and depend on it, and so do a large and unknown number of criminals and scam artists.

Earlier this month, federal prosecutors announced the settlement of a Medicare fraud case involving a Pennsylvania hospice firm with a location in Marmora, Cape May County. Prosecutors said the company admitted patients who didn’t need hospice care for nearly seven years starting in 2005.